


I'd Shelter Thee

by Branin-Gold (AlbionRaine)



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Comfort, Established Relationship, Insecure!Damien, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Second Citadel (Penumbra Podcast), Supportive!Arum, and maybe some fluff?, only comfort, there is no plot here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-18 20:32:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18126140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlbionRaine/pseuds/Branin-Gold
Summary: A short vignette of Damien being insecure of his place in the relationship, and Arum helping him through it.





	I'd Shelter Thee

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Honeysuckle_knight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honeysuckle_knight/gifts).



> For my own Sir Damien, without The Penumbra Podcast we may never have gotten together and certainly not as soon as we did.  
> Happy Birthday my Honeysuckle...

Damien sat on a bridge grown from a tree root, his head in his hands as he muttered to himself. He looked like an artwork, with leaves and flower petals drifting around him, some landing in his hair and others falling into the river below him, where they swirled as they were carried away down stream. Arum would have stopped to admire him before interrupting the picturesque scene, but he had been searching for Damien for the better part of two hours now, and his patience was wearing thin.

“Honeysuckle?” Arum kept his voice low, not wanting to startle his knight,

“I’m fine Arum, you don’t need to stay.” Damien said as he looked up, a false smile plastered across his face

"And if I want to stay?”

“Then I suppose I can’t stop you.” Damien looked back down at the flowing water, not reacting as Arum settled behind him, and allowing himself to be pulled back against his chest.

“Tell me what troubles you.”

Damien shook his head, but as two of Arum’s hand went to run through his hair, while the other two pulled him into a firm embrace, he found he couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out.

“I just don’t understand why you keep me around... You and Rilla are so much better than I, you have your experiments, and your plants...” Damien sighed, shaking his head again, “What do I have? Poetry that you don’t like, jealousy that has put us in danger, and a history of killing your brethren. I’ve tried to kill you! Multiple times!”

“That is something of which we are both guilty Honeysuckle.”

“I know, but-“

“Hush, Damien, let me speak,” Arum readjusted, draping his top set of arms over Damien’s shoulders and resting his chin atop Damien’s head, “Amaryllis and I love you because you’re not like us. Because you speak your heart and tell us how you feel. Because when Rilla gets caught up and forgets to show it, or I don’t know how, you are there with love enough for all of us. Because you see the good in everyone, you saw it in me before I did. And because you bring light to everything."

Damien smiled slightly, leaning back into Arum, who had begun nestling into his neck. They sat there in silence together for a long moment, before Arum spoke again, the grin clear in his voice

“And as for your poetry...”

“You don’t have to pretend to-“ a finger against Damien’s lips cut him off. Arum leant impossibly closer, his mouth a hair’s breadth from Damien’s ear as he began to speak in a low murmur

“O wert thou in the cauld blast,  
On yonder lea, on yonder lea,  
My plaidie to the angry airt,  
I'd shelter thee, I'd shelter thee;”

Damien huffed in disbelief, his smile growing wider as he reached up to hold one of Arum’s hands.

“Or did Misfortune's bitter storms  
Around thee blaw, around thee blaw,  
Thy bield should be my bosom,  
To share it a', to share it a'”

Arum showed no reaction, although Damien couldn’t see the way his frill started to discolour as he continued reciting,

“Or were I in the wildest waste,  
Sae black and bare, sae black and bare,  
The desert were a Paradise,  
If thou wert there, if thou wert there;”

Rilla smiled fondly from where she stood some distance away, having just stumbled upon the two of them. She couldn’t make out what was being said, but they looked so tender and content together that she couldn’t bring herself to interrupt.

“Or were I Monarch o' the world,  
Wi' thee to reign, wi' thee to reign,  
The brightest jewel in my Crown  
Wad be my King, wad be my King.”

Damien turned his head to look at Arum, “You memorised that?”

“I did. Rilla and I found one of your poetry books a week ago,” Arum looked away, “I read it and thought of you... Especially that one.”

“There you are!” Rilla called out, coming closer now the moment seemed to if not have ended, at least faded into awkwardness.

“Finally decided to join us then?” Arum asked, not looking around, “You’ve been watching long enough.”

“Rilla! You should have told me Arum read poetry!” Damien laughed, “He’ll be speaking his heart soon enough”

“I hope not” Arum grumbled, starting to push Damien away

“Oh shut it you two. And move over, there’s no room for me.”

**Author's Note:**

> The poem Arum recites is by Robert Burns, I altered the final portion of it to fit context. The original text says globe instead of world, and Queen instead of King.


End file.
